Off topic Microsoft & Dow ...
Dow first published his index to inform people about the general price levels of the stock market using a single number. He succeeded because, even though his index now doesn't serve its original purpose as well, people still look to his index as a general market indicator.
Inclusion in Dow's index was never meant to be a badge of recognition for a company's success, although listening to people discussing who's in and who's out, one could be forgiven for mistaking this to be the case. Omitting a major company, such as Microsoft, with a large market capitalization, a broad shareholder base, and who's fortunes influence many other company's share prices as well as its own, would be a serious oversight by those people who decide the composition of today's Dow index.
I view the inclusion of Microsoft in the Dow as inevitable, and only a matter of time since Microsoft's omission in this index was becoming a greater liability to the index's credibility daily.
As a shareholder of Microsoft, I've seen my company grow from an obscure niche technology provider into a global powerhouse in a little over a decade. Inclusion in Dow's index is only another step forward by Microsoft: not the first, and certainly not the last.
Cheers, PW.
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